Taylor names Beckham captain of youthful looking England squad

Thursday 9 November 2000 10.07 EST
First published on Thursday 9 November 2000 10.07 EST

Caretaker coach Peter Taylor has appointed David Beckham as England captain for next week's friendly against Italy after deciding to temporarily cull most of Kevin Keegan's old guard.

Taylor has dropped Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Paul Ince and Dennis Wise and named several of his former U-21 players in the squad instead. These included Everton's Michael Ball, Manchester United's Wes Brown and Nicky Butt, Derby's Seth Johnson, West Ham's Frank Lampard and Leeds duo Paul Robinson and Alan Smith.

In fact, there are just two players aged over 30 in the 26-man squad - Aston Villa's David James and Gareth Southgate, who only passed the milestone a couple of months ago.

"I've decided to go with players of 30 years or younger," Taylor admitted. "I've spoken to all the players who were in the last squad and not in this one, and from the response I've had they fully understand.

"I've decided to go with players who have not been tried because it's a friendly and it's worth experimenting. I think there are a lot of players who have been in the senior squad and been progressing nicely. It's time to have a look at them."

But Taylor has surprisingly decided not to have a look at Andy Cole or Joe Cole, although the later is deemed worthy a place in the U-21 side. "I felt with Joe there's no doubt he's going to be an excellent England player," said Taylor. "But I think Joe will be better off playing in the England Under-21s."

There were words of comfort for the senior players however, with Taylor admitting he would have included some them if it had been a World Cup qualifying match.

"The thing I said to Martin Keown and Dennis Wise was that they've got enough experience already," he claimed. "This is a friendly and it's worth taking a chance. If this had been a qualifying game I definitely would have kept more experience in the squad."